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Tibet Martyrdom Day observed in Nepal

By Choedhar Lobsang | Tibet Sun

Around 1000 Tibetans observed “Tibet Martyrdom Day,” paying homage and prayers to the victims of the Chinese crackdown in Tibet a year ago in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 14 May 2009. Tibet Sun/Choedhar Lobsang/Nepal

Exile Tibetans in Nepal observed “Tibet Martyrdom Day,” paying homage and prayers to the victims of the Chinese crackdown in Tibet a year ago.

After maintaining a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to the victims, around 1000 Tibetans shouted anti-China slogans for two hours at Boudha Stupa, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, in the evening.

Demonstrations led by monks in Lhasa marking the 49th anniversary of the Chinese rule in Tibet on 10 March last year turned violent on 14 March which was brutally suppressed by Chinese armed forces. Protests later spread to other Tibetan inhabited areas of Amdo and Kham for the first time.

According to the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala in northern India, at least 220 Tibetans were killed, 1,294 injured, more than 5,600 were arrested or detained and over 1,000 disappeared in connection with the unrest.

“The Tibetan sacrifice since March 2008 have become a proof to the world the wrong policies of China in Tibet. Tibetans are discontent under their rule,” said Sherap, the chief organiser of the event.

Nepal’s armed-policemen arrived in three trucks, sealed the entry points of the stupa to confine Tibetans within that area. No one could make their way out from the area due to the tight security.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun